Sunday, December 28, 2014

No time to ramble - Craig is loading up the vehicle as we speak as we're heading to Jasper for a few days to ski. Well …. THEY will all be skiing - I will be lounging in a comfy chair near a roaring fire drinking spiked coffee *lol* Yes, liking camping, I like the IDEA of skiing - alas, in high school I went down on a stretcher and haven't really warmed to the actual act since then! No lie - hit a tree … actually no, I hit the SIGN in FRONT of the tree that said to beware of the trees. True story. Embarrassing, but true. Hee hee - yes, I'm a treasure, aren't I??!!

Right - no rambling! I wanted to share one of my favourite stamps from the upcoming Occasions Catalogue. Ready???

BAHAHAHAH! LOVE these critters! Its from a set called "From the Herd" and it FINALLY gives us a card we can give "from the gang". There are grey sentiments … and you HAVE to love the llama … and that chicken-thing. Hysterical!
The first one was stamped in Memento Ink and coloured. Old Olive card stock behind … stamped with the grass stamp from another new set "Sheltering Tree". Some new Tangerine Tango Sale-a-brations ribbon (yes, FREE with a $60 purchase!) pulls the colours together. I finished it off by glittering the llama with Dazzling Diamonds.

I LIKE he card - but it didn't blow my hair back layout-wise … or color-wise … so I tried again and came up with the black/grey/white one. THAT one I love! Just stamped in black Memento, colored with grey Blendabilities and some Dazzling Diamonds on some of the critter parts. See the DSP behind? Its also in the upcoming Occasions Catalogue. LOVE this stack of paper. It's coloured on one side but Black and White on the other. It's a Valentine stack but the blck/white cards are PERFECT for masculine cards. LOVE it!!!

OK - Craig is giving me the stink-eye so I gotta fly. Pop in again soon - I have more to share! Have a stampy Sunday :)

What a wonderful 54 minutes it was yesterday *lol*. Yes, 54 minutes is all it too from start to finish for gift opening. hee hee - but it was all SO worth it, wasn't it?? Those smiles. What is it about those SMILES that suck us into doing it all over again 354 days from now? I don't know about you but I would quite seriously walk through the fires of hell to see those smiles. Every time.

We had a VERY relaxing day with Mom and Dad coming for present opening, brunch and then again for dinner. We didn't see the kids for hours as they played … and no fighting! Result!

I hope you had a relaxing day full of smiles and family as well.

Speaking of smiling - thought I'd share the last batch of smiles that Trixie and Buttonz gave us this year!

Now THIS one I LOVED! Yes, apparently Trixie wants to be barista when she grows up. Her and her friends were kicking back at her little home-made cafe!

How cute is this little apron? Hmmm - looks like some retired SU fabric and ribbon was used ...

Barbie was catching up on the latest North Pole News at the Kringle Koffee Kafe ...

Naturally Buttonz was munching on his favourite snack of coffee beans ...

… and Trixie left a happy note for us!

Alas - all good things must come to an end. We said our goodbyes for another year and took some pictures with our little magical friends. I seriously think I was more upset than the kids to see them go. I actually WAS a little emotional. Perhaps because Im very well aware that this may be the last TRULY magical Christmas. Sigh. WHY do they have to grow up???

OK - now that I'm all sad again I better go walk Doodles - he's looking at me all hopeful *lol*

Have a relaxing, stampy day, My Friends - and enjoy the rest of the holidays!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

No time to chat this morning … just a quick one to let you know a) there are new Weekly Deals on offer and b) NEW CLEARANCE RACK ITEMS HAVE BEEN ADDED! Ska-WHEEL!!!! Check out the deals on my on-line store here or e-mail me before noon today. You better BELIEVE I'm scooping up some of THESE deals!!!

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Just sitting here (well - practically lying, really with my legs flung over the arm of my chair) doing a whole lot o' NUTHIN'! I am SO in love with my life today I can hardly stand it! Ever get that feeling?? You're just SO content that you can hardy contain yourself?? … but you know if you try to do a cartwheel you'll probably blow out a hip so you just walk around with a big stupid grin on your face instead?? That's me today. Yep - got my "I'm RELAXED" face on today!! Aside from a brief wake-up at 1:30 am (when Craig finally came to bed) I slept through the night - MAN that feels good!! I KNOW the reason I haven't slept in 6 months is because I always have some running commentary going on in my head of what needs to be done. When someone or something wakes me up my mind snaps awake and the commentary continues. Not being a "list person" I just keep it all in my head .. and of course it never stops … until Christmas. Yep - it happens ever year. I'm not sure if my the end of December I just don't CARE about what needs to be done or if most things ARE done … but each year I actually relax and have fun. That started Friday at noon, when the kids were finally done school … and I finished the last of my shopping (yes, I was done about a week ago but wasn't happy with what I got my Dad so I found something else I'm much happier with). Yesterday the relaxation REALLY kicked in with our annual Open House for my in-laws. What a great afternoon! After everyone left we all watched Toy Story 2, the girls and I played a quid board game then off to bed. This morning I woke up fully relaxed (still not totally rested but I think THAT would take about 3 weeks on a beach with no electronics to actually happen!), full of love and excitement for the day ahead. I have NOTHING on the agenda for today. NOTHING! My FAVORITE kind of Sunday! Aside from walking Doodles there is absolutely nothing I HAVE to do. I plan to go with the flow, wander the house, do what ever the kids want me to do and generally have fun. How awesome is that??? I wish I could freeze time when I get in this mindset. Everything seems to be in perspective and "as it should be".

So! There has been an obvious lack of projects posted lately, yes? Ya - I haven't done any card-making for weeks! I've been crafting a bit here and there … and Ive received some great gifts from friends this week, so thought I'd just post some of those projects for you. Ready?

My friend Teresa made some great little gifts! The top one is an adorable little paper bird house tree ornaments - the second a Hot Chocolate holder and the third candy canes in a holder made from the Petal Cone Big Shot die. She also made a SA-WEET little Olaf using the Curvy Keepsake Die … but I can't find where I put it! i might have put it somewhere so Trixie didn't steal it … but I can't remember *lol*

I LOVE this wine glass my fried Casey made me. She used her Silhouette cutter to cut out the vinyl that says "Wine me up and watch me go". Yep - test drove this bad boy yesterday … works really well! *lol*

I LOVE making these bows to put on chocolates for neighbour or for those "people who show up at the door with gift but you didn't get THEM a gift" emergency situations! These bows were in the Holiday mini last year.. or maybe the year before … I scooped 10 or more packs when they went in the Clearance Rack. Deal of the century! I think they were $1.19 per pack … and you can get 10 single bows - or 5 double bows like mine - per pack!!! I used my hot glue gun to assemble and then the retired bottle caps with a stamped snowflake and jumbo rhinestone in the middle. Quick, easy and AWESOME!

These were a few gifts we took to the kids' Christmas Extravaganza. I'm really loving the gift wrapping lately! There was a book with another paper bow, a pack of cards packaged in out little polka dot paper boxes, with tags and twine made from left over Paper Pumpkin and Tag a Bag kits, the mini lunch bag (holding a hand lotion) with the Christmas Tag a Bag kit and a cello bag with cards, tied with ribbon. So quick and easy which is PERFECT at this time of year as, once again, I was doing it the night before we needed to deliver them!

Today I'm hoping to get some more crafting and/or card making in. We'll see what happens!

Here is a little gift Alicia and I made for her grandparents and Dad:

So cute! We bought terracotta pots and fuzzy white gloves at the dollar store, put a styrofoam ball in the pot, surrounded t with cotton, shoved cotton balls in each finger and then made little snowmen. The hats were the tips cut off more dollar store gloves - I hot glued beads for eyes and buttons, made earmuffs out of pipe cleaners and pom pons and my FAVORITE … coloured the pointy tip of Q-Tips orange, cut them off and hot glued them onto the snowmen. Ribbon for scarves and about an hour later we were done. So fun!

Speaking of fun … Trixie and Buttonz have been having a ball around here - and we've been having fun finding them! Here is what they got up to:

It took quite a while to find them the day they hid in the washing mating!

Buttonz won me over the next day when I discovered his favourite snack is coffee beans!

The kids did't find them until after school this day - they were napping in the doll house. Too many late nights getting up to no good!

This one was easier to spot - they were cuddled up in front of the fireplace reading the girls Christmas Books.

This one cracked me up! The decided to pack lunch for the girls … but apparently don't know a lot about what humans eat! Rebecca got uncooked KD, a cake mix, can or water chestnuts, some gravy mix and Maple Syrup to wash it down … Alicia got some uncooked pasta, taco mix, a bag of marshmallows, a jar of PEPPER and half a bottle of coke! (Actually Alicia was THRILLED with the marshmallows and coke part!). Silly critters. It was nice of them to TRY to help me but …. !

Trixie was Princess for a day as Buttonz drove her around in a carriage - complete with fancy ball gown and fuzzy shrug. Ahhhh the life of an elf!

Rebecca was at Grandma's for a sleepover Friday night. Our friends found an audience for story times took up residence on Rebecca's bed and read the Christmas stories to THEM. They seemed quite enthralled with the story!

This morning we laughed out loud when we came down and found Trixie, Buttons, Jack and Mr Cow Cow playing their own version of "Guess What I am". They all look so silly! LOVE these little creatures!!!

So that's what's been going on around her this week - whole lot o' nuthin' much, but everything important.

This is such a magical time of year. And yes, even though I'm not acid anymore I still FEEL like I'm a kid … and mentally about as mature as a 12 year old…. and that's the way it should be this time of year. A whole lot less of the responsible stuff and a whole lot more of the fun stuff.

Whatever you get up to today make sure you take at least a LITTLE time to be goofy and relax. Where here for a good time!

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Can you tell how my weekend mornings go? Yep - I grab my coffee and hit my chair to surf my favourite sites, Facebook and blog! Today is no exception - a great way to start a lazy Sunday :)

TOday's share won't set the crafting world on fire but I thought I'd share it anyway - they are the treats I made for my customers this month, and what I'll be popping in the Teachers' Staff Room this week for a little pre-Christmas sugar :)

THese were so quick and easy to make! I simply took my stash of designer paper from the DSP stack in the holiday mini, cut each piece of paper in half, rolled it into a toilet paper shape, adhered it with my Fast Fuse tape (LOVE that stuff!!) and tucked some Jolly Rancher treats inside. I added a little bit of gold sequin trim (FINALLY! I found a use for that stuff other than pulling it apart to use single sequins!), stamped the sentiment from a retired set from last year (I forget the name of it!) and attached it with dimensionals. So quick and easy - essentially when you are making 20 - 90 of them!

Now! On to what you REALLY came for - an update on the Adventures of Trixie and Buttonz! (Hmmm - sounds like a cheesy X-Rated movie! *lol*) Well, we have been busy cleaning up after those two … here's what they have been up to …

She was really tired after her last adventure of un-decorting our tree so just pet it simple… (oooo - look at the lovely Stampin' Up! Countdown Calendar!)

I don't know where she got the little lights from but I guess she wanted to make up for un-decorating our REAL tree and decorated my paper tree … and opened a few of my paper presents!

… then "Buttonz" arrived. Alicia was THRILLED she got a pet!

… apparetly Buttonz missed his reindeer friends back at the North Pole!

WHAT???!!! Trixie gave Koda a hair cut! We aren't sure if she was trying to be helpful or if it was revenge for Koda playing with Buttonz last night. Yes, we had found Koda carrying Buttonz around the house trying to get us to play with him. Luckily he only suffered a little dog drool. Koda, however, is now looking for a stylish hat to cover his bad hair cut!

That brings us up to today. We still haven't found Trixie and Buttonz yet this morning. They are hiding really well. I think they needed a break from mischief last night and must have been REALLY tired from giving the dog his haircut at midnight *lol*

That's it for today. I think we are heading out to pick up a couple of iPhones for ourselves for Christmas and I have my cookies to drop off for a cookie exchange I'm doing … but other than that it's just crafting, writing Christmas cards and generally hanging out with my "people". Pop in again soon to check out my project and our magical friends. Until then, have a stampy Sunday!

About Me

Hello!
I am a SAHM to two GREAT kids, a wife to a GREAT man and a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I LOVE all things crafty and I absolutely LOVE what I do! Please know that the content in this blog is my sole respoinsibility as an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and the use of and content of this blog is not endorsed by Stampin' Up!
Thank you for popping in - I hope you find a project you like and leave inspired!